SmallWorks gallery opens in Brisbane - Art Collector

16 January 2012 | A new gallery has opened in Brisbane with a mission to show work by New Zealand artists.

Founded by Daniel Clifford, SmallWorks will have openings and be open on select Saturdays, but is essentially an appointment-only gallery.

“There is this constant cliché of New Zealand art being this sort of repressed and grim thing where either a playful colonialist narrative or a remote gothic narrative is played out,” says Clifford. “Well, there is that, but there is so much more to it. What SmallWorks is attempting to do is to introduce this new wave of artists whose narrative doesn't fall into that at all.

“One of the ways for them to get known outside of New Zealand (because it generally doesn't fit into the current canon) is for a small intimate offshore gallery to champion them.”

Clifford says he is mainly interested in painting and drawing, but the gallery will also show photographs and sculpture occasionally.

The gallery opened in November with a group exhibition including Ben Pearce and the 2012 exhibition program includes Rob McLeod, Lorene Taurewera, Matthew Couper and Piers Secunda.